Trouble
by thekatthatbarks
Summary: Kakashi decided to purse a relationship with Sakura and they run into some people who disapprove of their relationship. Written for Kakasaku Week 2016: Day 7: Prompt: Warmth


"Kakashi!" Tsunade looked at him in mild shock, "Are you serious about this?"

Kakashi nodded, standing straight and meeting her eyes, "Yes, Godaime."

Tsunade sighed and rubbed the spot between her eyebrows, "Kakashi, I don't think you understand how difficult this is going to be."

"I don't care," he shook his head and Tsunade stared at him, not having heard that kind of conviction out of him for years.

A couple beats passed and she laughed, startling Shizune who had been standing silently beside her. She waved Kakashi over as she reached into her desk for something.

She pulled out a bottle of sake and two glasses. She poured herself one and then Kakashi. When she handed it to him, she said, "Well, you have my blessing or support or whatever you wanted."

Kakashi's shoulders relaxed and he swallowed his entire glass in one go. Tsunade chuckled and asked him a little more serious, "Why do you even want to pursue this? It may not work out."

Kakashi looked down at his empty glass with a smile hidden under his mask. He told her simply, "She keeps me warm."

 _ **DIVIDER**_  
* _a few weeks ago_ *

"Kakashi!" Sakura groaned exasperated, "Quit being stupid and just come here."

Kakashi's back was to her from where he sat on the ground. He shook his head, "I'm fine, Sakura."

They had been arguing over this for an hour already. At some point in the mission, Kakashi's sleeping bag had become damaged. They were in a really cold country, stuck in a cave for the night while they waited for a blizzard to pass. Sakura had been trying to convince him to share her sleeping bag with him, but he had kept rejecting her offer.

He had noticed recently that he was beginning to have feelings for his former student and was trying to keep them at bay. He didn't know when they had actually started, but he had grown a strong affection for Sakura. He always smiled when he was with her and was pretty sure that was when he was happiest. He would get distracted when they spared, whether it was from her tanned skin glistening with sweat or her muscles moving gracefully and deadly towards him. She was mesmerizing and he had been losing more sparing matches than normal lately because of it. And lately, he had been using whatever reason he could, to touch her. He didn't even know he was doing it, until he caught himself reaching for her.

Long story short, sleeping with her in a tight and confined sleeping bag was _out of the question_.

"Kakashi, it is _freezing_ here. I am still cold and I have a sleeping bag. Just come here," Sakura continued to argue with him.

Kakashi didn't say anything and she continued, "The ninken are keeping watch near the mouth of the cave, it's not like you need to keep watch, too."

When Kakashi didn't reply again, Sakura's voice turned softer, "I don't know why you're being so unreasonable about it. Shinobi do this all the time on missions. Is it because you're mad at me or something? I'm sorry if I did –"

Kakashi internally groaned and cut her off, "No, Sakura, I'm not mad at you."

She was quiet and Kakashi looked over his shoulder at her. She gave him a small smile, looking beautiful under the warm light of the fire, "Then, just come sleep with me."

Kakashi sighed and reluctantly stood up from the ground and walked over to her. He shrugged off his flask vest and climbed into the sleeping bag with her. After he had somehow managed to fit himself inside, he zipped it up.

Sakura leaned her head against him and he almost flinched when her skin touched him, "Sakura, you're freezing."

"I told you so," she mumbled against his chest, "So, I thought you would be ice cold, but you're still warm. What the hell?"

Kakashi chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, rubbing his hands up and down her back to get her warm, "And the real reason you wanted me here becomes clear."

She shook her head, causing her pink hair to tickle his chin, as she wrapped her arms around his torso, "I just wanted you to be warm."

Kakashi smiled and held her tighter, wondering why he had fought so hard against being with her like this. Even if it was only for the night, he held her like he would never let go and she hugged him back just as tight.

 _ **DIVIDER**_

Kakashi had been nervous, more nervous than he ever had been, as he walked to Sakura's apartment. But he wanted this and had decided to go after it, so he tried to keep his voice calm as he asked her when she opened the door, "Do you want to grab a drink with me?"

Sakura had looked at him, slightly surprised and he didn't blame her. Sure they hung out, mainly after sparing or having a well-deserved meal after a mission, but he hadn't ever invited her out like this. He hoped she saw the difference from him suggesting they go to Ichiraku's after having her kick his ass when they were sparing.

He fought back a smile when she blushed, "Yeah, sure, I'd love to."

She smiled at him and Kakashi raised an eyebrow when she didn't move or say anything else. Her blush deepened and she stammered, "Oh, um, just let me change real quick, then we can go." She stepped back into her apartment and gestured for Kakashi to follow her, "Just make yourself at home. I'll only be about ten minutes."

Kakashi nodded and Sakura wandered off into the apartment, probably to her bedroom. True to her word, Kakashi had only waited ten minutes, before she came back out. She was dressed in a simple red blouse and black pants. Her hair was down from how she usually wore it pulled back in a ponytail since it started to grow back out.

Kakashi had taken her to one of the less crowded bars in town. He could tell she was feeling a little nervous too, but after a couple of drinks they were talking like they usually did. He didn't drink as much as he normally would, not wanting to get drunk and do something stupid. But Sakura was another story. He started wondering if he was going to have to carry her back home with how she drowned sake bottle after sake bottle. But it turned out that she learned more than just chakra control from Tsunade. The woman could hold her liquor better than any man Kakashi had ever met.

Kakashi walked her home afterwards and when she leaned into him, he wrapped an arm around her waist. She had giggled and Kakashi fought back a laugh at how adorable she was when she was drinking. Sakura was definitely a happy drinker.

They were almost to her apartment, when she looked up at him, "Why'd you invite me out tonight?"

Kakashi scratched the back of his head and shrugged. He hoped his voice didn't sound nervous when he asked her back, "Is it that odd?"

She smiled and shook her head, leaning more into him and wrapping an arm around his waist, "No."

She was quiet for a moment and then she told him, "You should take me out to dinner."

Kakashi chuckled, a warmth filling his chest, loving how forward she was, "Okay, when?"

"Tomorrow," she sighed happily into his side. They were at her door now and she slowly pulled away from him. She looked back to him with a smile as she opened the door, "Goodnight, Kakashi."

"Goodnight, Sakura," he returned her smile and she went inside her apartment.

 _ **DIVIDER**_

It wasn't on a date that he kissed her for the first time. They only had time for three more dates, before he was sent on a solo mission that was two weeks long. But some things had gone unplanned and he didn't return home until a month after he was due back. He had missed Sakura more than he thought he would. He had just started to get her to see him more than her old sensei, more than a friend. And there he was at times, thinking he may never see her again with how close he kept coming to death on that mission.

But he had got through it. Got through it with a few cracked ribs and probably a broken arm, but he had gotten through it nonetheless. When he walked through the gates, he was surprised to see Sakura talking to the chunnin that manned the entrance. Whatever they were talking about, caused Sakura to frown and she turned to walk away when she saw him.

She ran over to him in an instant, throwing her arms around his neck and Kakashi tried to hug her back without cringing from the pain, "Kakashi, you're a _month_ late!"

He chuckled into her hair, "I know. I'm sorry."

She pulled away from him when she felt him wince and looked him over worriedly, "Kashi, you look like hell."

He shrugged, instantly regretting it when his left shoulder screamed at him in protest, "Well, there's a few reasons I'm so late."

Sakura looked up at him with a smile and he could see that her eyes were glazed over. She had noticed his frown even through his mask and she wiped at her eyes with a small laugh, "Sorry, Tsunade had told me that it was a simple mission and you should've been home by now. I was just starting to get worried."

Kakashi brought a hand up to her cheek and wiped away a stray tear. She grabbed his hand and smiled at him, "I'm just glad you're home."

Before he could reply she had reached up and tugged his mask down. He was so caught off guard, he didn't react until she had pressed her lips against his. He kissed her back, his hands trailing down to her waist. The kiss only lasted a few seconds and Sakura pulled away kissing him on the cheek. Her smile was less sad this time and she told him, "Come on, let's go to the hospital so I can look over your injuries."

He smiled back at her and her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. She pulled up his mask for him, which he had honestly forgotten about. She hooked her arm through his, thankfully the one that wasn't broken, and started leading him to the hospital. He normally would argue that she could heal him just as fine in one of their apartments, but this time he just walked with her too dazed to argue.

She waved at the guards as they walked past them and Kakashi didn't notice them openly gaping at them. He couldn't take his eyes off of the woman on his arm, wondering how soon he could kiss her again without drawing too much attention.

 _ **DIVIDER**_

Kakashi had gotten a few stray looks the following weeks, but no one had told him anything directly about his relationship with Sakura. It had become public knowledge since she kissed him at the front gates. He had had an awkward and terrifying conversation with Naruto about it, but that had been the worse it had gotten. Until today.

"Pervert," a civilian woman had scowled at him as he passed her on the street. He hadn't thought anything of it, used to getting those kind of comments when he had his Icha Icha out. He had just kept walking towards the bar he was meeting Guy at.

The night had been like any other, besides Guy going on about how happy he was his rival had found love. But he had even gotten used to that since Guy found out. He only rambled on about it for a few minutes, before switching to a new topic. Guy had stepped away to go to the restroom, when a man approached Kakashi at the bar.

"It's wrong, you know," he told him and Kakashi could practically feel the guy fuming next to him.

Kakashi didn't look at him and took a drink from his beer. It was bound to happen sooner or later. He asked him bored, "What is?"

"Dating your student!" the man waved his hands at Kakashi and Kakashi finally looked at him. He was just a civilian.

"Mah, she hasn't been my student for twelve years."

"You're fourteen years apart!" he practically yelled at him and Kakashi was starting to get annoyed.

Kakashi shrugged at him, not even giving him a reply. It wasn't like it was worth his time, the guy obviously wasn't going to change his mind and Kakashi didn't care anyways.

Kakashi could see the man glaring at him furiously out of the corner of his eye. The man clicked his tongue against his cheek and pointed a finger at Kakashi, "You know, I don't know if it's because you're a shinobi or what it is, but you shouldn't be able to date children!"

Then, there was a woman's voice beside him, "I don't think Sakura would be happy hearing you call her a child." Kakashi looked up to see Kurenai standing beside his bar stool. Her hand was wrapped around the civilian's finger and she was bending it backwards. She rose an eyebrow at him, "Or should we ask Sakura herself? I saw her on my way over here. She was probably on her way to visit her friend at the Yamanaka shop. Do you want me to go get her?"

The man looked at her slight frightened and shook his head, trying to pull his hand away from her, wincing when she didn't let go. Kurenai continued, "Sakura was a key player in ending the war and saving the world, saving your _know it all_ ass from being destroyed. She's _twenty-four_ and even if she wasn't, she hasn't been a _child_ in years."

Kurenai let him go and crossed her arms over her chest and asked him, "Do you even know who Haruno Sakura _is_? Do you think this old bag of bones –"

"Hey!" Kakashi protested from his barstool, but Kurenai ignored him.

"- could make _her_ do anything she didn't want to?"

The man glared at her, probably more confident now that he wasn't in her death grip anymore, and stepped away from them, mumbling, "Damn shinobi."

Kurenai rolled her eyes and sat next to Kakashi at the bar. Kakashi motioned for the bartender to give her a drink and told her, "You shouldn't let yourself get so riled up."

Kurenai shook her head at him, taking her drink from the bartender, "He was being an asshole."

Kakashi shrugged, "There'll be more than just him that don't approve."

"So, you're just going to sit there and take it?" she rose an eyebrow at him.

"They'll get bored eventually and leave me alone after I don't give them the reaction they want."

Kurenai rolled her eyes, "Well, I don't care. I'll defend both you and Sakura when I see anybody being an asshole to you two. Before they can get _bored_ I'll scare their asses from sticking their noses where they don't belong."

Kakashi smiled at her as he took a drink of his beer through his mask, "You're a good friend."

Kurenai bumped her glass against his and told him, "You are, too. Or else I wouldn't go through the trouble."

Kakashi chuckled and they drank in silence. He could hear Guy's booming voice now, so he must have stopped to talk to someone nearby. After a couple of minutes, Kurenai took a drink from her glass with a smile, "You must really love her."

Kakashi shifted in his seat and looked away from her, "What makes you say that?"

She smirked, standing up from her barstool, "Or else you wouldn't go through the trouble either."

 _ **DIVIDER**_

"Ugh!" Sakura groaned storming out of a hospital room.

Ino was at the nurses' station and looked over at her surprised, "What's wrong?"

But Sakura just shrugged and picked up a patient's file, "Nothing."

Ino raised an eyebrow at her and walked over to the room Sakura had just left. "Oh my god!" Sakura heard her gasp and imagined Ino walking into the room. She came back out a second later and walked over to Sakura and asked her incredulously, "Did you just throw a patient through a window!?"

Sakura waved her hands angrily, "You should have heard what that jackass told me!"

Ino sighed and grabbed Sakura's hand and dragged her to an empty room. After closing the door she folded her arms over her chest and asked, "Okay, what's going on, Sakura? You've been nothing but pissed off for the past week."

"All these shinobi keep talking to me about abuse of power!" she yelled gesturing to the door angrily. "They keep telling me that it's wrong to date a subordinate! Saying Kakashi must be manipulating me and threatening me into dating him! What the hell!?"

Ino couldn't help but laugh and suddenly she was kneeled over, clutching at her stomach. Sakura glared at her and huffed, "What's so funny, Pig?"

Ino tried to get herself together, "I'm sorry! It's just –" A few more giggles escaped her lips and she finished, "Imagining anyone trying to threaten you."

Sakura chuckled with her, "Yeah, that's why I've created a new sport of throwing these stuck up assholes through windows. Showing them just how _easy_ it is to manipulate me."

Ino laughed, "You sure showed them, huh?"

Sakura snorted and sat down on the bed with a sigh, "You should hear them, Ino. Offering to go with me to the Godaime and report Kakashi. Saying this kind of thing happens all the time and it's taken very seriously when a shinobi abuses his power over his subordinates, especially into having sex with them."

Ino's laughs quietened and she walked over and joined Sakura on the bed, "Come on, Forehead, we all know Kakashi's not like that."

"I'm not even his subordinate anymore," Sakura mumbled annoyed.

Ino put a hand on Sakura's knee and told her seriously, "Look, I know you really like him, but I haven't seen you this upset in a long time. Are you sure about this?"

Sakura met her eyes and nodded, telling her seriously, "I'm not going to leave Kakashi just because things got a little hard."

Ino nodded with a grin, "Good, you wouldn't be my best friend if you gave up so easily, anyway."

Sakura smiled back at her and Ino bumped her shoulder with hers, "So, why do you like him so much anyway?"

Sakura shrugged, "He makes me feel all warm inside, _happy_ , like I'll turn into mush if he just smiles at me."

Ino giggled, "Sounds like you're in love, Forehead."

Sakura blushed, "Shuttup, Pig."

Ino singed, "You're _in looove_."

Sakura laughed and shoved her playfully, "Stop acting like you're a twelve."

Ino shook her head and jumped up from the bed. She looked back at Sakura as she walked towards the door and into the hall, all the while singing, "Sakura and Kakashi, sitting in a tree…"

Sakura laughed, already feeling better, and followed Ino back out on to the floor.

 _ **DIVIDER**_

"Why did like five shinobi come up to me and asked me to tell you they were sorry if they offended you?" Kakashi asked Sakura, who was currently cuddled against his chest with his arms wrapped around her. They were sitting by the lake after having a picnic that Sakura had packed.

Sakura snorted, "I may have thrown a few of them out the window this week."

Kakashi chuckled and leaned against the tree behind him, "Must be why they're too scared to apologize to you themselves."

Sakura didn't reply and he asked her somberly, "What'd they say?"

"That you were abusing your power and manipulating me into having sex with you," she muttered angrily against his chest.

Kakashi sighed, "I'm sorry, Sakura."

She looked up at him with a frown and met his eyes, "Hey, no, it's not your fault."

"It kind of is," Kakashi glanced away from her and towards the lake, "I went after you, knowing some people wouldn't like it. Since I was your sensei, since I'm so much older."

"Not like I didn't know that either, Kashi. So, it's my fault, too, then," she told him, hugging him tighter.

He squeezed her back and kissed the top of her head. After a couple of minutes, she spoke softly, "It'll pass eventually."

"What if it doesn't?" he asked reluctantly, but the question had been biting at him.

Sakura shrugged in his arms and she looked up at him with a smile, "I don't care."

"You're going to end up throwing more shinobi through windows," he rose an eyebrow at her.

She winked, "I'll make a sport out of it. Get some of the other medics to join in."

He chuckled and asked her more seriously, "You think it's worth it?"

The laughter left her eyes and she smiled at him warmly. She leaned up towards his face, just inches away and told him, "I think _you're_ worth it."

He kissed her and she had never tasted more sweet. He told her against her lips, "I think I'm in love with you."

She pulled away a little surprised, but then she smiled and kissed him again, mumbling back, "I think I'm in love with you, too."


End file.
